Kenya: One-third of children found to be malnourished in Turkana as aid cuts, crocodile attacks compound hunger crisis

1 Oct 2025 Kenya

Mothers in northern Kenya are struggling to keep their children alive as a deadly mix of drought, crocodile attacks that disrupt fishing, and aid cuts leave families with little to eat, Save the Children said.

In Turkana County, where the situation is especially dire, 70% of the population is not getting enough nutritious food, with an estimated 87,000 children under five and 36,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women requiring treatment for acute malnutrition [1]. 

New Save the Children data reveal that one in three children screened by our Emergency Health Unit (EHU) in Turkana are suffering from acute malnutrition.

Alice Oyuko-Awuor, Clinical Manager with the Emergency Health Unit, said the malnutrition levels there are alarming and far exceed the normal Global Acute Malnutrition rate of 15%:

“During our first round of outreach clinics, I was shocked and saddened to see so many children and pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Countless parents told us they’re lucky if they can feed their children one cup of plain maize a day, and that they often go to bed hungry. Others are trying to survive on wild fruit.”

Between July and August, Save the Children’s EHU worked with local health teams and Kenya’s Ministry of Health to set up 25 health and nutrition outreach sites across the worst-hit areas. The teams screened 2,780 children in Turkana alone, finding 990 suffering from acute malnutrition.

UK aid to Kenya is already relatively small, and the funding that supports the poorest and most vulnerable families in areas like Turkana is now being cut as part of wider UK aid reductions. The UK government’s own assessment warned these cuts would have “negative impacts” on poor and marginalised households [2]. Given the scale of hunger in northern Kenya, Save the Children is urging the UK to ensure these cuts do not deepen the crisis and to prioritise support for the most vulnerable communities. Directing aid to those most in need could save millions of children from malnutrition and give them the chance to grow, learn, and build a better future.

Dinah, 27, lives with her brother and five children – including seven-month-old twins Meldah and Ekuom – in Turkana. Rising water levels and flooding in the lake, along with crocodile attacks, have impacted fishing, and her brother often comes home empty-handed, and some days she cannot feed her children.

Dinah told Save the Children: “When people go to fish by the lake, they stay there for a long time ... one-and-a-half or two weeks … while people are starving here… But when they come back, they come with empty hands and then we’re left wondering if we’ll survive.

“[Hunger] means my children’s bodies have not grown, they become weak and emaciated.  They have no fat…When I see that they’re hungry and sleeping, even the young ones are crying. My heart feels pain and I feel hurt.”

Josephine, 32, a mother of four from Turkana, is seven months pregnant and sells charcoal to earn money to buy food. Her husband is a fisherman in Lake Turkana, where fishing activities have reduced in recent times. She said:

“These days, the drought is serious and it’s not like before … even the organisations who used to help us aren’t here. In the past, when there was drought, organisations used to help people. Now there’s drought again, but the organisations have stopped (due to funding cuts).”

Jib Pornpun Rabiltossaporn, Save the Children Country Director for Kenya and Madagascar said:

“The majority of the population in northern Kenya rely on pastoralism and fishing to put food on the table. However, recent locust infestations in May this year has led to a significant reduction in vegetation cover, impacting grazing. Families are reporting that their animals are feeding on locust droppings, leading to illnesses, diarrhoea, and even deaths, with devastating consequences on nutrition and health outcomes, especially for vulnerable children.

“For the fisherfolk, rising water levels in Lake Turkana, driven by climate change, have submerged fishing zones and increased the risk of crocodile attacks, with several incidents reported in recent times causing fear and reducing fishing activity, further eroding families’ income and food availability.”

Across Kenya, new analysis by Save the Children of Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) data shows the number of people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity by January 2026 is projected to increase by 16%, from the current 1.8 million people already facing severe food insecurity [4].

Of these people, over 179,000 are likely to experience emergency levels of hunger and very high levels of acute malnutrition, with most of them concentrated in four northern arid counties of Baringo, Mandera, Marsabit, and Turkana [3].

Save the Children has worked in Kenya since 1950 and in 2024 reached nearly 700,000 people including about 455,000 children.

ENDS

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NOTES:

[1] [3] According to the IPC report - https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1159707/?iso3=KEN

[2] Equality impact assessment of Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme allocations for 2025 to 2026 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-official-development-assistance-programme-allocations-2025-to-2026-equality-impact-assessment/equality-impact-assessment-of-official-development-assistance-oda-programme-allocations-for-2025-to-2026

[4] According to the latest IPC figures for Kenya released on 8 September 2025, estimated 2.1 million people are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity (Phase 3 or above) between October 2025 and January 2026, a 16% increase from the 1.8 million people currently experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.